2019-2020 Winter

MUSIC 1A:Music, Mind, and Human Behavior

An introductory exploration of the question of why music is a pervasive and fundamental aspect of human existence. The class will introduce aspects of music perception and cognition as well as anthropological and cultural considerations.

Last offered: Winter 2019
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

MUSIC 2A:The Symphony

Symphonic literature 1750 to the present, with emphasis on developing listening skills and preparation for attending a live performance. Ability to read music not required.

Last offered: Winter 2019
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

MUSIC 2C:An Introduction to Opera

The lasting appeal of opera as a lavishly hybrid genre from the 1600s to the present. How and why does opera set its stories to music? What is operatic singing? Who is the audience? How do words, music, voices, movement, and staging collaborate in different operatic eras and cultures? Principal works by Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Strauss, Britten, and Adams. Class studies and attends two works performed by the San Francisco Opera.

MUSIC 7B:Musical Cultures of the World

Ethnomusicologists study music in human life. Music is with us as we articulate and define social identities -- punk rocker, student, Japanese-American, member of a sorority, Catholic, radical, etc. --and as we acquire new identities through rites of passage such as weddings, graduations, and initiation ceremonies. Many of life's most intense moments are accompanied or created by music, but music can also be part of the everyday, with us as we work, move, and socialize. This course is about what music does in human life and what it means to participants. In other words, it is about the myriad ways that music makes us human. We will address musical meanings and practices in selected regions of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. As you encounter music in an increasingly connected world, this course will provide you with a new awareness of musical diversity and of the social implications of music making. This course must be taken for a minimum of 3 units and a letter grade to be eligible for Ways credit.

MUSIC 8A:Rock, Sex, and Rebellion

Development of critical listening skills and musical parameters through genres in the history of rock music. Focus is on competing aesthetic tendencies and subcultural forces that shaped the music. Rock's significance in American culture, and the minority communities that have enriched rock's legacy as an expressively diverse form. Lectures, readings, listening, and video screenings. Attendance at all lectures is required.

MUSIC 15N:The Aesthetics of Data

Focus on visual and auditory display of data, specifically, the importance of aesthetic principles in effective data display, and the creative potential of scientific, biological, environmental and other data as inspiration for artistic expression.